2014 German Vázquez Rubio "Concert Negra" No. 41814 CD/HR

This 2014 German Vázquez Rubio “Concert Negra” No. 41814 is a flamenco guitar with a cedar top and Honduran rosewood back and sides, made in Los Angeles, California – a cedar-top negra with Honduran rosewood.

The “Concert Negra”

Its woods are a pleasure to look at – a perfectly quarter-sawn cedar top over gorgeous Honduran rosewood back and sides, all of very high quality. Very few makers finish a guitar in shellac with the care and perfection German brings to it.

Sound and Label

It responds immediately and sounds open, with lots of volume and character – clear, easy trebles and full, steady basses. It is a dream to play, with the very low action flamenco players look for. The string length is 655mm and the nut 52.5mm. Its “Desde 1968” label carries German’s signature, the year 2014 and No. 41814.

German Vázquez Rubio: Early Years in Paracho, Mexico

German Vázquez Rubio (also known as G.V. Rubio) has been making guitars since 1968 – over fifty years – and has developed his own signature sound that guitarists have come to love. He was born in 1952 in Paracho, Mexico, where there is an abundance of fine luthiers (with few exceptions, all of the finest guitars in Mexico come from Paracho). German’s first formal training began at eleven years old, when he left school to help support his seven siblings and went to work in the workshop of his uncle, Manuel Rubio. There, even at his young age, he made a conscious effort to make guitar building his life’s work.

“Desde 1968”

In 1968, at the age of sixteen, he made his first concert-level guitar (hence his label reads “Desde 1968”). German has since been able to learn from many different master builders such as Félix Manzanero, José Romanillos and Thomas Humphrey. He now resides in Los Angeles, California, where he builds a variety of both classical and flamenco models. He is also the maker of the real-life guitar from the Disney/Pixar film Coco – you can read more in our article on German Vázquez Rubio and the real Coco guitar.

First Prize in Mexico

In 2000, German won First Place at the Concurso Nacional de Constructores y Ejecutantes de Guitarras, Mexico’s national guitar-making competition.